Warning:Fallen Angels depicts events that some readers may find disturbing and includes language that some may find objectionable.In this award-winning novel, Myers presents the many experiences of a group of very young men who come of age during the Vietnam War. Richie Perry, the novel's protagonist and narrator, enlists in the army mainly to escape his problems—an alcoholic mother, a lack of opportunity in Harlem, and uncertainty about his future.

He finds himself in the middle of a war that is more confusing and traumatic than the life he fled. The story follows a small squad of American soldiers--Private Richard "Richie" Perry, Private Harold "Peewee" Gates, Corporal Lobel, Private Johnson, Corporal Brunner, Private Sonny Monaco, Private Walowick, and Private "Brew" Brewster—who are all stuck together in Vietnam. They came there for different reasons, but now they share a single dream: leaving alive.